Primary Care Physicians
The nation is beginning to recognize its increasing need for primary care physicians and less sub specialists. Patients typically have more than just one medical problem like hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.
Walking through every office door in primary care medicine is an everyday adventure and can be as simple as a sore throat or as complex and serious as cancer and heart disease.
Patients may be depressed, attacked by a dog, hung-over or having problems with their spouse marriage or mother-in-law.
This all translates into a growing need for family physicians who can address the whole patient, within the context of the family, religious beliefs, and their support systems that help or undermine the patient's health.
Primary care physicians can integrate the care of these patients far better than any other provider and decrease cost and redundancy of tests.
There are more than 100 papers cited that support the need for primary care physicians and if the United States is to improve health care quality and outcomes, we need to encourage more students to choose these fields compared to specialty fields.
Other studies show areas with an overabundance of sub specialists have higher costs and lower quality of care because the care becomes increasingly fragmented and routine preventative steps are often missed.
With the aging population, the system must change. Incentives that encourage more medical students to choose primary care needs to be incorporated into the programs.
William Osler, a family physician, said “Listen to your patients. They're telling you what's wrong with them.” We need primary care doctors to take this advice to heart!
Walking through every office door in primary care medicine is an everyday adventure and can be as simple as a sore throat or as complex and serious as cancer and heart disease.
Patients may be depressed, attacked by a dog, hung-over or having problems with their spouse marriage or mother-in-law.
This all translates into a growing need for family physicians who can address the whole patient, within the context of the family, religious beliefs, and their support systems that help or undermine the patient's health.
Primary care physicians can integrate the care of these patients far better than any other provider and decrease cost and redundancy of tests.
There are more than 100 papers cited that support the need for primary care physicians and if the United States is to improve health care quality and outcomes, we need to encourage more students to choose these fields compared to specialty fields.
Other studies show areas with an overabundance of sub specialists have higher costs and lower quality of care because the care becomes increasingly fragmented and routine preventative steps are often missed.
With the aging population, the system must change. Incentives that encourage more medical students to choose primary care needs to be incorporated into the programs.
William Osler, a family physician, said “Listen to your patients. They're telling you what's wrong with them.” We need primary care doctors to take this advice to heart!
Labels: healthcare, primary care
posted by Anonymous at 6:00 AM
4 Comments:
I am glad you're my doctor.
You know me. I find humor in many things and I am not trying to start something.
I do find it funny that someone who is glad that you are his/her doctor, remains anonymous.
Glad you're my doc too!
You are not my doc but have family members who utilize you as their pcp. I have been a bit disturbed though over one family member who is not your patient but has been referred to speciality after speciality doc. What happened to pmc handling the care unless absolutely necessary?
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